We are getting an ADSL modem to go with it, but Paul was informed that the ADSL modem would only have a USB connection.... apparently this has something to do with keeping the IP address down to a minimum so that only 1 computer gets bombed by hackers!!! How acurate is this??? Am i right or way off track as usual!?

mr blonde wrote:We are getting an ADSL modem to go with it, but Paul was informed that the ADSL modem would only have a USB connection.... apparently this has something to do with keeping the IP address down to a minimum so that only 1 computer gets bombed by hackers!!! How acurate is this??? Am i right or way off track as usual!?

Well... having a USB modem /forces/ you to have a PC connected to it running as a NAT router, and thus only one computer is physically connected. The security benefits come more from the inherent properties of NAT than the USB-ness, frankly.
It's probably better to pay a little more for an ADSL /router/ - one that does NAT itself. The Solwise stuff is generally fairly reasonable and effective - http://www.solwise.co.uk/modems.htm. A router will typically have an ADSL connection, a LAN connection, may run DHCP, and you just it as the default router for your LAN. And everything works.

Doesn't the router I looked at do everything you just mentioned. I thought it was a modem/router/switch and firewall. Could you tell which of these it isn't? I thought we wouldn't need any additional hardware as this was all built in?